Pneumatic tire valve



Aug. 3, 1937. G. c. LAMB PNEUMATIC TIRE VALVE Filed April 20, 1936 ammoMM George '6. Lamb.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE George 0. Lamb,

Application April 20,

2 Claims.

My present application relates to pneumatic tire valves and is acontinuation in part of my copending application, Serial No. 754,574,filed November 24, 1934, entitled Pneumatic tire valve and stem.

Certain objects of this invention are to provide a tire valve comprisinga stem having a bore therethrough with a resilient valve seat and anexterior shoulder or shoulders, and also a valve cap member having avalve head connected thereto by means of a spindle, and said valve capmember being slidably mounted on the valve stem so that said valve capmay be manually lifted to draw the head into the seat, and turned to alocked position against the exterior shoulder or shoulders.

Further objects are to provide a tire valve cap member made in a singledetachable metal unit, thus eliminating the use of springs and otherdelicate parts, and furnishing a valve that is very simple and durablein construction,positive and efficient in operation, and comparativelyinexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects are to-providea tire valve which will not deteriorate orget out of order, which will retain air pressure intact over a longperiod of time, and whose one-piece metal valve cap member will bedetached upon contact with the tire rim hole in cases of punctures orblowouts, and thus prevented from being drawn into the tire and doingdamage to its inner tube.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a tire valve embodying thefeatures of the invention, and showing a portion broken away at its tubeconnection;

Fig. 2 is a view in longitudinal section taken substantially on a brokenline 2-2 of Fig. 1, and showing the valve in the sealed position;

Fig. 3 is a corresponding view showing the valve in the unseatedposition;

Fig. 4 is a View in transverse section taken on a broken line 44 of Fig.3; and

Fig. 5 is a detail view in perspective of the onepiece valve cap memberseated on a fragmentary portion of the valve stem.

Referring in detail to the drawing wherein like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts in the several views, the numeral 5indicates an inner tire tube mounted in a rim 6 having a hole 'Itherethrough. The numeral 8 designates the valve stem which ispreferably, though not neces-' sarily, made of rubber and having a baseflange 9 which is cemented or otherwise connected to the inner tube. Abore I I] extends from a commu- PNEUMATIC TIRE VALVE San Diego, Calif.

1936, Serial No. 75,410

nication with the inner tube 5 throughout the full length of thestem 8.

l The bore I I] through the stem 8 is provided with a resilient valveseat I3. The outer end portion of said stem is provided with one or moreexterior shoulders I4. These shoulders are formed by reducing the upperportion of the stem, as at I5, and leaving the shoulders flush with theouter cylindrical surface of the stem, it being understood that saidreduced portion extends considerably above or beyond the shoulders.

The reduced portion I 5 of the stem 8 is adapted to slidably and snuglyreceive the skirt portion II; of a hollow metal valve cap memberdesignated as a whole by the numeral II. The outer portion of said capmember terminates in a reduced threaded hollow neck I8 which receives adust cap I 9, and which also threadedly receives the discharge end of aninflating tube, not shown. A valve spindle 20 depends centrally from theneck and terminates in a valve head 2|. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, thisvalve spindle may be hollow and integrally or fixedly connected to thehollow neck I8. Ports or perforations -22 extend through the hollowspindle close to the valve head 2| for the passage of air, it beingunderstood-that the hollow stem is in communication with the hollow.neck I8.

To install the valve cap member I1 on the stem 8, its valve head 2| isforced through the bore III to a point below the valve seat I 3. In theinstalled position, the spindle 2i] fits slidably and snugly within thebore I0, and the skirt I6 fits snugly and slidably around the reducedstem portion I5. The skirt I6 is provided with a recess or recesses 23which are arranged to receive the shoulders I4 formed on the stem, andfor clearness, the edge portions of the skirt between said recesses aredesignated by the numeral 24.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 5 of the drawing, wherein the valve head 2| isin the unseated or open position, in order to seal and close the valveit is merely necessary to raise the valve cap member I'l until its head2| is securely jammed into the resilient valve seat I3. In thisposition, the edge portions 24 of the skirt I6 are even with or slightlyabove the top edges of the shoulders I4, and to lock the valve in thisposition it is only necessary to turn the valve cap member in eitherdirection to bring the skirt edges 24 to bear against the top edges ofthe shoulders I4. It being remembered that the valve seat I3 isresilient, sufiicient tension is thereby created to hold the skirt edgesin secure frictional engagement against the shoulders.

In actual usage it has been found that a valve made in accordance withthe foregoing description holds air pressure over a period of monthswith no appreciable leakage. On the other hand, it is well known that,in the use of valves depending on springs to retain them in the closedposition, it is necessary to re-inflate the tires very frequently forthe reason that the springs are comparatively weak, and the air pressureof the inner tube is largely depended upon to retain the valves in theclosed position. When the air pressure becomes reduced to a certainpointthe springs no longer function properly or completely, and thetires are rapidly deflated, particularly in passing over bumps and otherrough spots in the road.

In order to deflate an inner tube equipped with a valve made inaccordance with my foregoing description, it is, of course, onlynecessary to turn the valve cap member I! until its recesses 23 registerwith the shoulders M on the stem, and to then force the valve cap memberslidably down to the position shown in Fig. 5. In this position thevalve head 2| is unseated, as shown in Fig. 3, and the air will bedischarged through the bore [0, ports 22, hollow spindle 20' and throughthe hollow neck l8.

An important feature of my invention is that, in case of suddendeflation of the inner tube caused by a puncture or blowout, the entiremetal valve. cap member I! will be jerked off of the rubber stem 8, thusleaving no metal parts to be drawn into the tire where they would dodamage to the inner tube. When the valve is drawn into the hole 1 of therim 6, as is often the case in sudden rupture and deflation, the metalcap member, upon violently engaging the edge of the rim hole at anangle, will be completely detached or pulled ofi of the stem, and thiscap member, being one connected unit and the only metal part of thevalve, will leave only the rubber stem to be drawn into the tire. Thisis, insofar as I am aware, a novel feature not anticipated by otherpneumatic tire valves, and is only accomplished by making the metalparts in a single connected unit.

I claim:

1. A pneumatic tire valve comprising a flexible stem having a boretherethrough, a resilient valve seat formed within said bore, a metalvalve cap member having a skirt slidably mounted on said stem endportion and an opening communicating with the bore through the stem, ahollow spindle depending centrally from the cap member and communicatingwith its said opening, said spindle extending slidably and snugly intothe bore to a point beyond the valve seat, and a valve head formed onthe end of the spindle and arranged to contact with the seat, saidhollow spindle having holes therethrough close to the valve head,wherein the flexible stem has exterior shoulders formed on an endportion and the skirt of said cap member has recesses adapted to receivethe exterior shoulders on the stem whereby the valve cap may be loweredto unseat the valve head, and said skirt has depending edge portionsbetween its recesses arranged to be brought to bear against the tops ofthe shoulders when the cap member is raised and thevalve is therebybrought into forced engagement with the resilient valve seat.

2. The combination with a pneumatic tire valve comprising a stem havinga bore therethrough and a resilient valve seat formed Within the bore,of shoulders formed on the upper exterior end portion of said stem, avalve cap mounted on said upper end portion of the stem, a valve spindledepending centrally and fixedly from the cap through the stem bore to apoint belowthe valve seat, a valve head formed on the depending end ofthe spindle, a skirt depending from the valve cap and slidably disposedon the said upper end portion of the stem, the lower edge of said skirtresting against the shoulders on the exterior portion of the stem whenthe valve cap is raised to bring its valve head into closed engagementwith the resilient valve seat, and said skirt having recesses in itslower edge portion that register with and receive the shoulders on thestem when the valve cap is turned and lowered to disengage its valvehead from the resilient valve seat.

GEORGE C. LAMB.

